Deep One Alien Argus Reveal

Well, Mikie Graham has given us a full reveal of his Deep One Alien Argus custom figure for the upcoming group custom show.

Here's how Mikie describes the process behind the creation of this custom piece:

When working on my Argus custom I was inspired by several influences: deep sea creatures like the angler fish, turn of the century sideshow oddities like the Fiji mermaid, and most importantly H.P. Lovecraft's race of deep sea dwelling creatures known as "The Deep Ones".

Disassembling and reconfiguring my Argus, I took off the character's legs and turned them into the Deep One's tail. Removing 2 of the original antenna gave me space to attach his new eyes and cutting into the character's chest I was able to sculpt a gaping mouth for his snarling teeth.

Next I painted my creation in a combination of blue GID paint and green black-light reactive paint giving the creature 3 very different appearances depending on his lighting situation. After the paint was applied I mounted over 40 real Dentalium shells into the mouth of the figure to serve as the creature's gruesome teeth.

Taking this custom one step further I decided to push the sideshow oddity concept and created from scratch a display box that would house the Deep One. Hand-lined in black velvet, the box is wired with 2 medical grade black-lights mounted into its ceiling. These powerful
black-lights combined with hand-sewn red velvet curtains allow the figure to be displayed in a fully lit room while still showcasing its vibrant paint job under a black-light.

Finishing the display, I hand-painted a tiny 2" x 3" sideshow banner for my oddity that tells a bit of his back story and gives him the final touch that turned my kaiju-creation from vinyl figure into turn of the century sideshow oddity.